Slayers Poke Ch 1
by Sayuma
Summary: I can't believe I'm in such a strange new world! Somebody's gonna pay for this! Ah well... at least the food is good.


Chapter 1 Shakey Ruins?

Wonderful! A new world! Well, I've done it again.

Done what again you ask? Well, it seems that I've found myself in another  
rather odd set of circumstances. Per usual. I suppose it was just because I  
was much too altruistic. Yes, I was being nice. Me. Stop looking at me funny  
I mean it! I only wanted to help Zelgadiss find his cure. Okay? I wanted to  
help him out in the ruins since you never know what you might find in ruins.

Okay. Maybe I had a tiny little bit of an ulterior motive. Just a little  
one. It's tiny, really, just a little trifle. Okay. Okay you got me. I came  
because I was hoping that we might find a treasure, or maybe some kind of  
new and really neat magical spell book. You know I can't resist that kind of  
thing, there's no reason for you to think that that's the only reason I  
came.

I came to help out a friend. Yes, I know Zelgadiss is cool and great and all  
with his stone skin, even I've admitted that he is kind of handsome. But he  
wanted to find a cure, yet again, and me, well, I just had to help out. It's  
a friend's obligation, right?

Anyways. It started when Zel found me and Gourry camping out by the river  
near Saillune. We were hoping to get a bit of a break from all of the normal  
adventuring we'd been doing, so we were actually taking it easy when Zel  
showed up. He explained that some new, mysterious ruins had been rumored to  
have appeared. Well, okay, he didn't really show up. We sort of saw him  
wandering by, and after working out a few minor details between him and a  
group of bandits, he told us what was happening.

Zel was going to go and explore these ruins of course, and he told Gourry  
and I. "Look, I don't want to cause any trouble, I'm just going to check it  
out by myself and it'll be over soon. I doubt I'll find anything interesting  
anyways." And of course, being my usual charming and irresistible self, I  
managed to talk Zel into letting us tag along. After all, what are friends  
for, right? I should have known better than to stick my head into all of  
this, but you know how my patented Lina curiosity can be.

One thing just leads to another. We got to the ruins in a matter of days, and they were  
really just the complete and utter showcase of boring. I wanted to leave  
almost a whole two minutes into our exploration. Something about the place  
was creepy, the long dark passages, the writing on the wall. The runes that  
were scribbled onto it all seemed to have eyes, and they were shaped like  
nothing I'd ever seen before in my entire life. Just when I thought things  
couldn't get any more boring though, things took a turn for the weird.

Okay now, I am a Sorceress, and I am used to all kinds of weird things  
happening in a wizardry lab, or even when someone casts a spell, but in the  
dark passages of those ruins, I was a bit surprised, when I decided to take  
a second glance around and just... well. I don't even know what happened.  
Gourry and Zel were gone. Split city. And I hadn't even heard anything from  
them. They had disappeared without any trace at all. "Come on out guys! This  
isn't funny!" I called out to the darkness. As though to mock me, my echo  
replied. "Come on out guys! This isn't funny!" wonderful. I had no idea what  
happened to them. Till it happened to me.

In a sudden rush, several of the ruins on the wall seemed to leap to life.  
They were shaped really strangely. All of them had large eyes, and they were  
jet black, twisted looking kinds of critters. Wait. The ruins were critters?  
What the hell kind of monsters were these? I instinctively drew a hand back,  
getting ready to power up one of my spells, when I realized, my body was  
paralyzed, from head to foot. There was a strange energy coming from the  
creatures all around, something powerful was in their stare. I could feel  
it, it was strange.

Suddenly, I realized I was no longer at all in the ruins  
where I had been, but in some strange kind of astral plane. Could I move? I  
tried, but still no luck. There was a strange chittering sound filling the  
air around me as the creatures whirled around, and as I tried my best to  
follow them with my eyes, I felt like I was going to get sick watching them.  
At least I could close my eyes, even if I couldn't move any of the rest of  
myself.

I called out, frustrated. "Who are you? Why are you doing this to me? What  
is the meaning of this? Let me go dammit! Where did you take Zelgadiss and  
Gourry?" I didn't get any immediate answer. Actually, what I got was a whole  
lot of darkness, as I faded from consciousness.

I found myself lying in a patch of grass. It was pretty comfortable really.  
I sat up, slowly, rubbing my head with a heaving sigh. "Wow. That was one  
heck of a nightmare..." I said to nobody at all in particular. As though on  
cue, a very large purple rat with a strange looking tail popped out of a  
bush, and chittered at me very annoyedly.

Okay, this was just weird, yet again. It looked like it was angry. And for  
another thing, as far as rats went, it looked really huge. It didn't look  
particularly dangerous, but I certainly hadn't run into anything like it  
before, and trusting a new species of monster is not a high priority in the  
Lina's Adventurer's Handbook, which you can order today if you act quickly  
enough!

"Alright, Rat, you just back off now, and nobody gets hurt!" I said  
warningly. Oddly enough, it seemed to actually understand me. It looked at  
me with eyes that just seemed to say. "You are the dumbest thing I've ever  
seen, and now I'm going to bite you." Naturally, it lunged at me, and tried  
to do just that.

I didn't even get up, but I pointed a finger at my would-be assailant, and  
without much effort, sent a flare arrow shooting right for its face with a  
nonchalant announcement of... Da da da da... "Flare arrow." It didn't have  
much heart in it, really. I had just woken up in a strange place, and  
seriously, I didn't think the thing could take too much. Bam! The strange  
looking rat thing fell over, a bit on the charred side, still alive, and  
quite swirly eyed.

I sighed, and rubbed the side of my forehead with one finger. "Ya know, I  
warned you that you would get hurt." I said chidingly. Suddenly, a voice  
from behind me spoke up. "Hey! Lady! That pokemon looks pretty weak, aren't  
you gonna catch it?" It was a kid. She was probably only 12 or so, young  
girl with light pink hair, wearing a white T-shirt, a hat that looked like  
something from a big city, and short shorts. I could never wear clothes like  
that myself.

"Um... catch it? Why would I do that?"

"Whattaya mean why would you do that, you're a trainer, aren't you?"

"Trainer?" "Don't you have any Pokéballs?"

"No... what's a pokéball?"

"One of these! Look, just try it out!" The girl handed me what looked to me  
to be some kind of small magical bauble. It was pretty strange, made of  
metal, but as she handed it to me, it grew, just the perfect size to fit in  
my palm.

"Uh... what do I do with this?" I asked a bit sheepishly.

"Throw it at the pokèmon!" she said impatiently, pointing at the strange  
little rat thing. I did as she asked. Why not, right?  
The strange red and white ball bounced off of the still swirly eyed rat, and  
in a flash of red light, seemed to swallow it up.

"What in the world?" I asked cautiously as the little ball rocked back and  
forth a few times, before something on it seemed to blink. Strange. A light  
on a ball? This was just weirder and weirder. I still had no idea how I had  
even gotten here. I walked over to the ball and picked it up. "So... what  
just happened?" I asked confusedly. For all I knew, the little rat thing was  
some sort of demon, and the device I had used was just some kind of ward to  
seal it away in another dimension.

"You caught it!" The girl said in a bubbly tone. Geez, if she wasn't an  
innocent kid, I'd be tempted to fireball her just to get her out of my  
misery. "You caught a pokemon! It's a Rattata! Oh, I'm guessing you're  
wondering who I am..."

"Well, yes, that might be a good thing to know... though, more importantly,  
I'd really like to know where I could get a good bite to eat..."

"I'm Marleen, I'm one of Professor Oak's voluntary assistants! We're really  
close to Pallet town, and if you want to eat, maybe you could ask Delia for  
a meal? She's really hospitable!"

"Eh, sure, just lead the way to the food Marleen, and I'll be good to go!"

It wasn't a very long walk at all to Pallet town. I made a mental note of  
the name, because personally, I'd never at all been anywhere near or around  
a place called Pallet. It couldn't be anywhere even close to Atlas City,  
Saillune, or any of the other cities I was familiar with. The place was very  
different from most towns I'd been to. There were lots of things I wasn't  
used to. The houses seemed to be made of very different materials, the glass  
windows looked very perfect, almost too perfect considering that I was used  
to seeing handmade frames, and there were occasional strange looking  
vehicles of some kind. They were like carriages, I guess, but they didn't  
have horses, and they were strangely shaped.

Maybe there was even more magic in this strange place than I was used to,  
but I couldn't sense any magic at all coming from the vehicles. Maybe it was  
something even more powerful that I just couldn't see? I wasn't really sure  
about all the details, but I did have a bit of nice sightseeing as Marleen  
led me to the city itself. We stopped at a small modest looking house where  
a rather kind, middle aged woman was hanging up some laundry. "Hey Delia! We  
have a newcomer!"

"A newcomer? That's nice! Is she a trainer?"

"I don't think so, but she managed to weaken a Rattata with some kind of  
strange bomb."

"Hey, hold on a moment..." I interrupted.

"Yes?" asked Marleen.

"I didn't use a bomb... I used a flare arrow."

"Flare arrow?" she asked incredulously. Okay, maybe I was wrong about these  
people being magically advanced. I just shrugged.

"Never mind... Um... I take it you're Delia though?" I asked the middle aged  
woman. She was pretty good looking, though, a bit tall I guess, and maybe a  
little too busty... What? You think I'm just saying that because I'm  
shorter and not as well endowed? Oh come on! I'm more mature than that!

"Yes I am. Who might you be?"

"She's... oh... wait... she never told me either, though, I found her at the  
edge of town."

"I'm Lina, Lina Inverse." I said with a bit of a grin. I almost expected the  
usual reaction for a decently famous sorceress, you know, the staring, or  
questioning of my reputation. Well. Nothing. Not a dang thing at all came  
from either of them about my name. Well. nothing like what I expected.

"Oh, that's very nice. It's a pleasure to meet you Lina Inverse. I'm Delia  
Ketchum. If you're new in town, and a trainer, I supposed I wouldn't mind  
putting you up for a night or so."

"Em... that's really nice of you and all but... just what is a trainer?"

"Oh my, where are you from?" Marleen asked incredulously. Obviously it took  
her a while to figure out that I was not at all from around these parts.  
Even though I was wearing clothes that, well, compared to either her, or  
Delia, kind of made me stand out like a sore thumb. I mean come on; a huge  
mantle and cape like mine, all these fashionable baubles... come on. Did I  
even need to spell out to these people that I was a sorceress?  
"I'm from Zefilia..." I said with a bit of a grin. Okay, at least I was  
telling the truth. Why were they looking at me so funny? I guess they'd  
never heard of the place.

"That doesn't sound like any place around here. Are you from the united  
states or the UK?" Marleen asked.

"Em... no." I replied, completely unfamiliar with either of the places she'd  
mentioned.

"Wow. That sounds really weird. Hey, I know, let's go visit Professor Oak,  
I'm sure he'll be able to figure out where you're from. He's really smart!"

"Oh that's a wonderful idea, while you're going there, why don't you take  
him this fresh pie I baked?" said Delia.

"Okay!" Replied Marleen.

"Just a little taste..."

"No, it's for Professor Oak"

"Oh come on, I'm starving!"

"Maybe after we ask him!" We waited at the door of Professor Oak's  
laboratory. I was impressed with how plain the place seemed from the  
outside, but when the door finally did open and I got a look inside, I was  
even more impressed with how the place looked. It was a clean Lab,  
something definitely not common for wizards; there were sterile white  
tables, several large machines, what looked to be some kind of control  
panels with display screens.

I wondered how they worked, since, like with  
the vehicles outside, they didn't seem to emit any kind of magical aura.  
There were lots of men and women in white coats, tending to the machines,  
and behind a glass door, I saw what seemed to be a small mini environment of  
sorts, filled with some of the strangest animals I'd ever seen before in my  
life. Okay, I was just guessing they were animals at least. Maybe they were  
monsters? No, they had to be animals. There were some like the one I had  
gotten with the strange ball like device, but there were lots of others too.  
Some were like birds, some were like plants, and others were like fish, even  
crabs, and other strange things. They were all colors too, yellow, red,  
green blue, purple... just about anything I wouldn't normally expect to see  
in nature.

Finally, we were approached by a somewhat handsome, but elderly  
man. I would guess he was in his early 50's or so, light grey hair, soft,  
kind emerald eyes, and a long lab coat, much like several of the others  
wandering around that I guessed were assistants.  
Regrettably, Marleen surrendered the Pie to one of the other assistants as  
we made our way in Ah well.

"Hello there, Professor Oak." I said as casually as possible. He gave me a  
kind smile, and he offered a hand to shake with a nod. "Greetings, I don't  
believe I've seen anyone quite like you before, but welcome to my  
laboratory. As you may already know, I am Professor Oak, and it's a pleasure  
to meet you. Where are you from?"

"Zefilia." "Really? I've never heard of such a place?" Marleen wandered off  
while I talked with the Professor. She was interested in playing with one of  
the odd creatures.

"Yeah, well I'm not really from around here... I was suddenly brought here  
when I met a bunch of really odd looking rune things... they were alive, and  
they had just one eye... are you familiar with anything like that,  
Professor?" I asked, really hoping I'd finally get a lead on how I had ended  
up here.

The Professor seemed to brighten up as though Ceipheed's Dawn had come  
early.

"You encountered... no no, wait, by how you described them... hmmm... come  
here young lady."

"I"m Lina..."

"Alright, Lina, come here."

For better or worse, I followed him as he moved to one of the strange  
control panels in front of a display. He tapped his fingers along several  
strange looking runes on the control panel. Funny. Though they were much  
neater in appearance, the runes that he was tapping were very similar to the  
living ones I had seen. Maybe it was a coincidence? In a few moments, the  
display screen flashed to life with pictures of ruins that I recognized as  
being similar to the ones I had seen before this whole mess started. There  
were also a few pictures of the creatures that I had encountered.  
"Do any of these look familiar?" Oak asked me with a bit of eagerness. I  
could tell he really wanted to know, and I decided to indulge him, since the  
old man seemed harmless enough.

"Yeah... I met a bunch of those things before I suddenly ended up here...  
it was really weird, they took me into what felt like another astral  
plane..."

"You mean that you come from some place completely different from this one?"  
Oak interjected.

"Well, yes... a few friends and I were exploring a place just like that." I  
pointed to the display. "And then they disappeared... and then I was  
surrounded by those..." I pointed to the creatures. "And then I blacked  
out... and woke up near here. I was also attacked by some strange creature,  
and then Marleen gave me some strange device to throw at it, and I guess it  
got captured inside."

"This is very unusual indeed." Oak replied. "But it would seem to me that  
the Unown have transported you from another dimension to where we are now...  
I'm really sorry that you've been caught here, but, are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine, though, a little on the confused side. What was with the  
strange creature I met? What was with the strange ball Marleen gave me?"  
"Allow me to explain a few things to you, Miss Lina. I'm sure you've had a  
very strange journey after all." And then of course... he explained  
everything about the new world I found myself in.

So that's how I'm here. I talked with Professor Oak quite a bit. We cut a  
deal. He knows a lot of people all over this world, and he offered to have  
his friends look out for not only my friends, but possibly for a way to get  
back to my world. In exchange... He gave me a device that he called a  
Pokédex. He told me that I could help him do research by capturing pokemon,  
and by traveling from town to town. I'd need to challenge gym leaders here  
and there, if I wanted to progress. Well, in exchange for helping me try to  
get back home, it was the least I could do.

He explained to me that I had already caught my first pokemon. He also  
taught me how to call it out. Well, may as well get to know the little  
furball.

"Alright, Rattata, I choose you." I droned with the enthusiasm of an eighty  
year old. I mean, seriously, catching little animals and keeping them in  
small balls? Kind of a cool idea, I guessed, but it just seemed so damned  
cheesy. In a flash of light, the Rattata I had caught earlier, and Oak had  
stuck through a healing machine, emerged. It looked up at me. Alright,  
according to Oak, it should be willing to obey orders. The look it was  
giving me was one of fear and respect.

I had spoken with Oak, only, about my magic. He said that it was unusual for  
humans to be able to use anything like that at all. He also advised me to  
try and use my magic sparingly if at all, so as not to attract attention.  
Eh, no biggie. He'd also explained to me how training pokemon worked, and a  
slew of other things. He also told me that the best of the best trainers  
competed in huge stadiums.

Well, normally I'm not for just competing for the heck of it, but there were  
supposed to be prizes. huge cash prizes. I was almost broke, even though,  
from what Oak told me, quite a few people would accept my gold and silver  
pieces; I didn't have that much money, and if I wanted to make plenty of  
money for food, the best way to do it was... da da da da! Defeating other  
people in Pokèbattles. Apparently there was some kind of reward system.  
Alright, not a bad deal, I guess. It'll help me make some cash, right?  
"Okay, Rat thingy, You're going to help Mommy Lina make lots, and lots of  
money so that we can eat lots, and lots of food. Does that sound like a good  
idea to you?" The Rattata nodded in understanding. Alright, good, it did  
know what I was saying, so that would help out a lot.

"Great. Hmm. I think I should give you a name, since just calling you  
Rattata would be kind of silly. Well, ya kinda remind me of him... sooo your  
name is Zolf. Got it? You're Zolf!" Zolf nodded in understanding. What a  
good rat! I gestured up to my lap, and he scrambled up into it. I stroked  
through his mostly soft fur a few times, from the back of his head down his  
back. It was kind of relaxing, considering that it was a cat-sized rat.  
I spent the night getting to know the little guy, and more than anything,  
while I didn't train him to fight any better or anything like that at all, I  
did teach him to follow my commands very precisely. I used a spell to make a  
small bauble of light, and I showed him to follow the light as I pointed out  
a path along the ground, so that I would be able to show him how I wanted  
him to follow silent commands, such as just pointing.

At first, he always had to chase the ball of light to keep up with where I  
pointed, but each time we performed the exercise, I let the ball of light  
get dimmer and dimmer, till it was completely gone. Eventually, he knew to  
follow the path of my finger perfectly, so that by guiding him with my  
direction, I'd be able to control him very precisely. I had mentally figured  
out that this was a great tactic; after all, if the only time I had to speak  
was in order to attack, it would give me a great tactical advantage in  
battles. We practiced like this for several hours, till it was really early  
in the morning. Exhausted, I didn't even think to tell Zolf to go back to  
his pokèball. I was staying the night at Delias. Well The morning now. We  
went to sleep on what she said was her son's bed, though, from what she'd  
told us, her son had been gone for some time. Lucky! It was nice and clean.  
Zolf curled up near my feet, and we slept.

"Hahaha! I just farted again Terrance!" "Oh my god! You did Phillip  
you did!" I sat up to the rather horrible sound of more flatulence. What the  
heck? I sat up in bed, and groggily stared at the screen that had been  
turned on. There were a pair of small mouse-like critters on the screen, one  
yellow with red highlights, and a little + for a tail, and one yellow with  
blue highlights, and a - for a tail. Zolf was intently watching the screen.  
"Did you turn that thing on?" I asked in an annoyed tone. Zolf just nodded,  
and watched the screen, as the pair on it continued to make nothing but the  
most annoying of fart jokes, and laughed at each others in the complete and  
utter moronic way that, well, complete and utter morons can.

I smelled something nice coming from the kitchen down below though, so I decided to  
investigate. As I headed downstairs, I was a mess, I know. I hadn't even bothered to  
undress before I went to bed, so my mantle had dug into my shoulders. I had  
a hell of a crick in my neck as well. Bad habits can be hard to break  
sometimes, I guess. But something good was in the air. "Ohhh, that smells really good Delia...  
what's cookin' in the kitchen?" I asked as I came down the stairs.

"Oh, it's lunch time already, sorry you missed breakfast."

"Eh, I just slept right through it, it's no big deal."

"Well, go ahead and have a seat."

It was an incredibly great meal, hot bread, some fresh pasta, chicken,  
salad... I really dug in good, perhaps, even a little bit too good. Poor  
Delia was looking at me with some bewilderment as I finished my third  
serving. Well, I wasn't in a restaurant. I decided, even if I was still a  
teensy bit hungry, that I'd better stop. "Aheh... sorry Delia... but thanks  
for the awesome grub... so... if I'm going to go on one of these pokemon  
Journey things... where do you think I should go?"

"Well... here's a map You can head to Viridian city, up north, and , after  
that, you can head to pewter. That's where the first gym badge can be won."

"Ohhh... right, that'll be a blast... I guess I'm going to have to train a  
lot to be able to handle something like that, right?" I asked.

"Well, you can't go unprepared. You should also, from what I hear, try to  
catch more pokemon, that way you'll be able to take care of whatever you  
meet."

I knew this already. Oak hadn't explained it to me personally, but I had  
noticed by observing some of the pokemon in his lab. Being a Sorceress  
allows one to know certain things that everyday individuals might not  
notice, and what I did notice, was that almost every creature had a little  
tiny bit of a magical alignment to them.

I wouldn't consider all of the magic to be elemental for sure, but I could  
guess, just by feeling their auras that each aura would make them stronger,  
or weaker against each other depending on the type.

That, and by poking at the Pokédex thingy that Oak had given me, I'd learned  
a lot about types already. I've always been a big fan of reading, especially  
since you can get a lot of knowledge on spells and the like from books  
through reading. There was just a problem. I didn't understand the writing  
on the Pokédex. At first. It only took me a few minutes to figure it out  
once Oak explained to me what all the letters sounds and the like made  
though. It was common language, but it was written in a different format  
than I was used to. With a quick little on the fly memory spell, and some  
quick repetitions, I picked it up frighteningly fast. Oak thought it would  
have taken me a year or so, not some minutes, but hey, a talented sorceress  
can handle anything given the proper motivation. Learning more would make  
fighting easier, and easier fights meant easier money. Easier money meant  
more food, and more food means Lina happy!

Anyways, I read a lot of really boring, but somewhat interesting facts on  
all of the pokèmon types that I was likely to encounter, I even memorized a  
few of the elemental weaknesses and strengths, as well as the types of moves  
associated with them. Not like I'd need to know all of that right away. The  
only things that Zolf knew were tail whip, and tackle.

We finally left on our Journey. Leaving Delia behind was kind of a strange  
emotional experience for me. I mean, yeah, I know that the only thing she  
really did was keep me at her house for a night, but I was a total stranger,  
and she was a killer cook. She was so friendly to me for the short time that  
I had spent there too that it almost felt like she was my mother in a way  
too.

"Take care Lina! And good look on your Journey!"

"Yeah! I'll make sure that it's a good one! Thank you for everything Delia!"  
I called out, before I started to head into the deep grass and path towards  
Viridian city. Man, what a total pain in the butt too! There were ledges  
that could easily be jumped over on the way back towards Pallet town itself,  
but the path towards Viridian, was mostly full of bushes and grass. Lots of  
tall grass, the kind where... yep, I figured it. More pokemon were likely to  
appear.

Another Rattata showed up. My first instinct was to just flare arrow it out  
of the way, but then I remembered that the only way for Zolf to get  
stronger, would be if I trained him against it. I released him from his  
pokèball, which I kept on my belt next to several magic potions and the  
like, and as the other wild Rattata tried to attack him, I smoothly guided  
him with simple gestures. He circled the other Rattata, easily slipped from  
its path of attempts to attack, and with my guidance...

"Alright Zolf, Tackle!" He slammed into the other Rattata from the side,  
completely throwing it off balance, it tried to retaliate by tackling in  
return, but I'd already guided Zolf out of harm's way.

"Alright, once more with feeling!" Zolf slammed into the other Rattata  
again. Wash, Rinse repeat. We won pretty easily.

All the way towards Viridian, we fought wild pokemon, here and there. I was  
a bit surprised that we didn't run into any other trainers, but then I  
guessed that Pallet town was a bit out of the way for most people to visit.  
I was impressed with how quickly Zolf seemed to get stronger and stronger  
after every few battles. By the time we got to Viridian though, he was  
pretty wiped out and exhausted, so I decided to try and find a pokemon  
center.

I didn't know what one looked like from firsthand experience, but  
thanks to my Pokèdex, it didn't take too long for me to locate one. We went  
on in and after talking with the Nurse, whose name was Joy, she helped Zolf  
get back up to speed in only a few moments after putting him, in his  
pokèball, into a healing machine. They were interesting devices, and it  
astonished me to no end that they weren't using any magic. I'd talked about  
this with Oak when I told him about my magic.

Oak had explained to me that it was actually technology. I wondered to  
myself what people in my world would do if they had the kind of technology  
in this world. It was pretty interesting I guess. After a bit, Nurse Joy  
brought up an interesting point.

"You're new to this all, aren't you?"

"What was your first clue?"

"Oh, just that you only have one pokemon."

"Well, I don't have any other pokèballs yet..."

"Why don't you try the pokèmart down the street?" I just nodded and after  
leaving the pokemon Center, headed in the direction she indicated.  
I decided that I should go ahead and get some supplies aside from just the  
pokèballs, as I looked around the store; I realized how foreign I seemed as  
I heard a few kids talking to themselves as quietly as they could. Thanks to  
my heightened sense of hearing, I suppose it wasn't really something they  
meant for me to hear, but I heard it anyways.

"Hey, who is she?"

"I don't know. She looks like she's dressed for  
Halloween."

"She looks so strange!" I sighed. I guess this is that Zelgadiss felt like  
most of the time. What a total drag! I decided then, that I would try and  
get some clothes to fit in a little better as soon as I could.  
When I finally got to the front of the line, I asked for 20 pokèballs, 10  
Potions, and 5 antidotes, just in case. The register man nodded a bit, and I  
pulled one of my sacks of gold free of my belt, and dropped a small handful  
of coins on the counter.

"Hey, will these be enough?" He blinked. And looked them over. There was  
greed in his eyes, and the way he looked over the gold pieces, my guess was,  
he hadn't seen real gold in a long time. Or ever for that matter.  
After a bit he just nodded, and accepted the payment. Hee hee. That was only  
enough to buy a cheap meal in Saillune. I guess that my money was a bit  
better than what they were used to in these parts. That meant it'd be easy  
to get some seriously good food once I got to a good big city. Excellent!

After leaving the shop, I took a look at the map on my Pokèdex, and decided  
that the best next place to head to would be Pewter City. I was thinking  
about checking out the Gym here in Viridian after all, but the place seemed  
to be closed down, so I didn't really see any point.

On the trail up to Pewter, we ran into two different types of bird pokemon.  
The Dex called them Spearow, and Pidgey. I caught both of them with out too  
much trouble at all. I named the Spearow after Prince Phil, and I named the  
Pidgey after Rumin, a young girl who helped me out once when I was lacking  
my powers. Then we headed into Viridian Forest. I took a bit of time to  
train my newly captured pokemon with Zolf. Oddly enough, it seemed like he  
could communicate with the different species, just as well as I could  
communicate with him. We forged a sense of teamwork that was incredible, it  
only took a few minutes for the birds to catch on to what Zolf explained to  
them in several chitters and squeaks.

They soon learned to follow my gestures and verbal commands as smoothly

as though I were casting spells through them. Maybe being a Sorceress

translated well into being a trainer. I wasn't sure. After a few hours of training,

we decided to head into Viridian forest.

"Hey! No fair! How come your pokemon dodges without you saying anything?"

"Special training! I won fair and square! So pay up!" Okay. In a way I  
almost felt kind of bad, the kid couldn't have been older than 10 or so, and  
the only things he was using were little wormy things. I'd caught a pair of  
them myself, but I didn't really think they were that great. I was still  
training them too, but they weren't that great. I collected my prize money  
from the bug catcher kid. He was the fourth or fifth one I'd met in the  
forest. I went back to wandering through underbrush and the like when... I  
met a new species.

According to my Pokèdex, it was a Pikachu. It was cute I guess; if you like  
yellow. More than anything, it looked lost in this forest, which was mostly  
inhabited by nothing but bugs. I called out Phil, my Spearow, and directed  
him towards the little electric rat. Oops. Bad idea. ZAP! In one hit of what  
was probably the same strength as a digu volt, the little sparky rat downed  
Phil so hard that I actually felt sorry for him. He could barely move.  
Sighing, I recalled him, and thought about what I'd read on the Pokèdex.

"Awh, crap, it's an electric type... I guess that means Rumin will be  
useless too... Gahh, Come on out Zolf.

Zolf chittered happily, glad to be in action again, and I Zipped him along  
the underbrush with careful gestures. I locked eyes with the Pikachu now and  
then, and it seemed more than ready to tangle. I grinned a bit.

"Alright Zolf, time for your new maneuver... Quick attack!" Zolf sped up  
faster than most normal human eyes could follow, and he rammed into the  
Pikachu, knocking it to the side.

"Alright, once more!" Bam! The Pikachu was reeling, though, taking a look at  
Zolf... Crap. he was paralyzed, I could see it. I should have bought some  
paralyze heals while I was at the shop too, but hadn't thought about it.  
"Gahhh... Pokèball go!" I yelled, chucking one of my Pokèballs at the  
Pikachu. The ball rocked, from side to side... stopped a moment... and then  
exploded apart. He wasn't caught yet!

He ran towards Zolf, and aimed both of his small paws at my helpless  
Rattata, unleashing a surge of electric energy. Zolf stood his ground  
though, he wasn't beat yet. In a panic, I threw another Pokèball at the  
Pikachu. "Dammit! Stay inside!" I yelled with annoyance. The Pokèball sucked  
up the Pikachu. Something different happened this time though. Zolf  
scampered over to the Pokèball, and threw his body over it, clamping at the  
metal ball to try and hold it shut. The ball rocked, shook, and I could tell  
that it looked ready to burst again, but, not through its own integrity, but  
because Zolf was holding it shut... it held! Finally the red signal beeped  
one last time, and I had caught my first Pikachu. Awesome, I finally have an  
electric type!

I spent a while training in the forest. Partially because I wasn't sure what  
awaited me in Pewter city and partially because there were lots of trainers  
who put up a valiant effort before surrendering prize money. Hey, it's  
perfectly fair for me to do that, after all, a girl's got to eat. Each time  
I returned to Viridian city, I spent some time at this really great  
restaurant that had an all you can eat special for just 250 Yen. Considering  
that I made that up every two fights or so, I think it was the best time  
I've spent in a strange place. There was great stew, and did I mention that  
it was all you can eat?

Sadly, after three days or so, they had to raise the price to a ludicrous  
2500 Yen for the "All Lina can eat" buffet. Complete discrimination! Oh  
well. I decided, once that happened, that it was finally time for me to move  
on. I finally made my way all the way through Viridian forest. There were  
plenty of trainers along the way, but nobody particularly stood out.

I'd named the Pikachu I had caught "Digu" since he was my first electric  
type, and, the first electric shamanistic spell is Digu Volt. I'm so clever that I just love  
myself sometimes! And he's so cute too! Digu was a little bit of a brat when  
I had first started to train him, but he quickly learned who was boss. Every  
time he didn't listen, I blew him into the air with a Dill Brand.

I don't know why, but watching him fly up into the air never ceased to amuse  
me. Regardless, he learned to obey properly in a matter of two days.  
Actually, we've sort of gotten along, though competitively. I would let my  
Pokemon eat with me, you see, and I swear, Digu is almost as bad as Gourry.  
He just digs into his food. We got into some friendly competition a few  
times, and yeah, he even reminded me of Gourry. Little yellow rat.

Anyways.

On to the important part of the story, since I'm probably boring you.  
We finally made it to Pewter city. Before I headed any place else, of  
course, I looked for a restaurant. The prices were decent, though, I did  
have to order half of the Menu. I couldn't decide what I wanted, and it did  
all look pretty good. After enjoying a meal of chicken, Rice, Gravy, Salad,  
Ham, Beans, Pot Roast, Beef Stew, Chicken Soup, Onion Bread, French Fries,  
Mashed Potatoes and Gravy, and topping it off with some ice cream and cake,  
I decided to check out a Local Museum.

Well I didn't really decide to check it out. I saw a kid in a baseball cap  
standing on the side of the road, and waved to him in a friendly way.

"Hey, have you seen Pewter City's Museum?" He asked. I shook my head, and he  
suddenly grabbed me by the hand. "You have to see it!" "But I was going to  
the Gy-" "Come on!" He rushed me towards a rather large building. It was  
pretty new and flashy too. "Go on in! Have a look!" he encouraged me.  
I wondered how much he had been paid to bring me there, but, I decided that  
since he was so insistent, I should at least have a little bit of a look  
around. I made my way inside, and a young woman at the end of the counter  
did a bit of a double take as she looked at me. I'm guessing that it was the  
costume. Lots of people seemed to react to it that way. "Ah... 50 yen entry  
fee to take a look please." I sighed. Well. Why not? I shelled over the  
cash, and decided to look around.

I wasn't really disappointed at all. There were some interesting rocks on  
display on the first floor. I asked one of the museum staff about them, and  
he explained to me that they were Fossils. I still didn't really understand.  
He further explained that Fossils were the remains of ancient pokemon. That  
really sparked my interest... then something more than that caught my  
attention. As I got close to the glass display case... I realized that there  
was energy coming from the fossils. Living energy. It was like it was locked  
away inside of the bones. Wow! I didn't know that magical artifacts like  
this had really existed in a place like this. They were kind of interesting,  
and, being as discreet as possible, I magically scanned, and investigated  
the fossils very thoroughly, remembering everything about them that I could.  
Something told me they might be important later.

I also made my way up to the second floor of the building as well. Why not?  
I paid for it after all so I should be able to check out the entire place  
without any trouble. I was greeted with a few foreign things, and a few  
familiar things. The familiar things were star charts, and the like. There  
were lots of them, showing planets and the like. I'd seen lots of stuff like  
that in Saillune's Astronomy labs. Always neat stuff. What confused me  
though was the strange looking object. I guess it looked like a pointy box.  
After I talked with another of the Museum staff members, I got a pretty good  
explanation, and I wondered again, how these people did so much without  
magic. It was a Rocket, apparently a device that could carry people all the  
way up to the moon, and back to the earth. It was really something  
impressive.

They explained to me, a bit to my disappointment, that it was only a model.  
I wish I could see the real thing; that would be really interesting to  
study! I'm really curious after all, and I like learning. How else do you  
think I've added so many different spells to my ever increasing deadly  
arsenal? Anyways, after I finished touring the Museum, I took a quick trip  
to the Pokemon center to heal everything up. Now, since I had arrived in  
this world, it had been at least a month and a half. I'd actually raised up  
Zolf, Digu, Phil, and Rumin rather well. On the side, I had also raised up a  
funny little worm thing, which grew, evolved twice, and turned into a kind  
of Butterfly. I'd originally named it Drew, after one of the ugliest people  
I knew in my youth. Too late to change the name now, but I guess Irony is  
just that. Ironic.

Anyways, I finally arrived at Pewter City Gym. The place was, honestly, not  
what I had expected for my first Gym, Made mostly of wood. There was a large  
Arena. I walked out confidently, and hollered out. "Alright, I'm ready to  
make my first Gym challenge, I don't care who you are but I'm gonna smash  
you so that I can get my prize money, and more food!"

Heavy steps came down a darkened staircase. And I blinked, seeing a familiar  
face for the first time in a month and a half. It was Zelgadiss. And at his  
waist, he had four Pokèballs.

"Zelgadiss! What are you doing here?" I asked in shock. Was he here to  
challenge the Gym leader before me? Zelgadiss sighed, and looked over at me  
while he rubbed his forehead with his fingertips.

"Well... it seems I found a very odd situation..." He began to explain.  
"When I arrived here, I was dropped into a large ravine apparently. A girl  
named Cara found me, badly wounded... even for me. She brought me back here,  
with some great difficulty with the aid of her brothers, and sisters. Cara  
told me how her older brother, Brock, once led this Gym, but he found  
someone that would lead him on to a greater destiny. She taught me a lot  
about this world... and apparently, I'm quite the natural with the creatures  
here."

"Why is that Zel?" I asked.

"I'm getting there. As you well know, the third demon in me allowed me to  
speak with monsters and the like where we come from. Apparently, I can speak  
to these creatures just as easily. I developed a great skill in training,  
and I caught a few interesting Pokemon myself..."  
"So why are you here? And don't you want to still look for your cure?"

"Lina, I'm getting to that already! Will you stop interrupting me?" Zel  
looked hurt.

"Alright alright. Get it out."

"Anyways. I agreed, after Cara witnessed my skill, to become the Gym leader  
here temporarily. At least, till I met you. She told me that after meeting  
with my friends, I should go and see a man called Bill. She also said that  
she would put a search through the pokemon center network, to try and locate  
you, and Gourry."

"Great, so does that mean that We're already going to be leaving?" I asked  
with a big, ever so friendly Lina grin.

"Well we could... but before we do... If you want to earn a boulderbadge...  
A magical Talisman that will slightly increase the defense of all your  
pokemon... You'll have to defeat me. Anyways... another condition that Cara  
insisted on... was that I'd have to battle you to test your skill, before  
we're allowed to leave."

"Wow Zel, you're taking this rather seriously, aren't you?" "I'm always  
serious!" "Yeah, Yeah, whatever, If it's a fight you want, it's a fight  
you've got!"

Zel and I stood at opposite ends of the Arena. He looked over at me rather  
dangerously, and reached for his belt. Tapping a finger on one of the  
pokeballs, letting it expand to his palm perfectly. "Alright, Three to Three  
Lina. I'll let you choose second if you like. Are you ready?"

"Ready as I'll ever be Zel! Prepare to be smashed!"  
"Alright, Rando, I choose you!" He threw his first Pokèball towards the  
Arena and in an instant; I saw the first thing He'd chosen. It was a strange  
little rock with arms, and a face. I Dexed the thing to see what it was.

"Hmmm... Geodude? That's a pretty interesting creature Zel... It suits you."  
I said teasingly.

"Shut up and fight Lina!" he replied with a bit of irritation in his tone.  
Touchy!

"Okay, Gooooooo Rumin!" I yelled, tossing out the Pokeball with my pidgey  
inside. She sqawked, and came bursting free in an instant. Quickly, I guided  
her with my gestures, to start circling her opponent. Zelgadiss started to  
murmur something that sounded like wind creaking through caverns, and Rando  
seemed to understand whatever it was Zel was telling him. Not good, this was  
going to be way harder than the kids who just yelled orders aloud; I  
wouldn't know what to expect. Before I had time to give Rumin an order,  
Rando started to hurl rocks at her!

I used my gestures to maneuver her out of the attack easily, and my mind  
raced. I thought quickly and came to a quick solution. "Alright Rumin, Sand  
attack! Now!" She kicked up dust, and hazed Rando in clouds of sand and down  
by flapping her wings. Rando tried to roll out of the way, something I was  
unaccustomed to seeing most pokemon do in response to attacks, but it seemed  
Zel was still guiding him. Damn! Why does he have to make this so hard?  
Some of the sand had still buffeted Rando though. "Again!" I shouted to  
Rumin. She continued to use her sand attack, and Rando continued to try and  
hit her, but it wasn't any good.

"Alright, use your gust attack!" Rumin Did as I commanded immediately, the  
bursts of wind from her wings flying towards Rando quickly. I blinked  
though, as the attack seemed to just be shrugged off.

"That's useless Lina, a Flying type's attack does almost nothing against  
Rando, And it's only a matter of time before Rumin is hit!"

"That's true... Too true... but Zelly boy... you're forgetting something!"

"And what's that?"

"Alright Rumin! Do just like I personally trained you! Use your special  
tackle!" I drew my hand back, so that Rumin would follow the gesture, and  
she flew back, suddenly, away from Rando. As she did, I raised a hand up,  
and without needing even the incantation (Hey, I'm experienced!) I summoned  
up a freeze arrow pointing right at Rando. Rumin swept in a tackle, right  
along with the freeze arrow, letting the tail end of it get fixed to her  
beak, so that as she tackled Rando, she crashed it directly into him!

"Direct hit!" I declared As Zel watched. He twitched a brow, and sighed,  
returning Rando to his Pokeball. He'd been knocked out by the elemental  
attack, since I'd only made the freeze arrow barely cold enough to hold  
form... it'd turned into a water attack the moment it hit.

"Don't you think that that's cheating, Lina?" Zel asked in a rather annoyed  
tone.

"Of course not, Pokemon are allowed to use their environment..."

"But you altered the environment..."

"There's nothing against it in the rules! I have them right here on my  
Pokèdex!"

"... But those rules weren't made with Sorceress' in mind."

"They still don't say anything about it."

"Fine, Lina, if you want to play rough, so be it."

I returned Rumin, and Confidently tossed out my next Pokeball. "Go for it  
Digu! I know you won't fail me!" Digu popped free of his Pokèball, and in  
moments, made quite an impressive show of his power, letting sparks fly, and  
dropping into a battle pose. Hey, I taught it to him only because I was  
bored. Don't look at me that way. At least I didn't teach him to fall flat  
on his face, or to trip while trying to stand on high places. I'm not  
Amelia!

Zel nodded, and threw out his second Pokèball. "Go Darien!" He announced in  
his usual cool manner. From his Pokèball, emerged what looked a lot like  
some kind of purple rabbit, with spikes all over. I Dexed it, to get some  
better info. "Nidorino... Hmmm. It's a Poison type. First stage evolution?  
Crap... I haven't evolved anything big yet!" "Well then, perhaps Darien's power  
will overwhelm you!" Zel said calmly, before emitting a series of high  
pitched squeaks and whistles. As he did so, Darien leapt into the air to try  
and kick Digu. I tried to lead Digu out of the way, but the first kick was  
too hard, and it was immediately followed by another. Digu sprawled across  
the Arena, and I sighed. Looked like Zel had this one. "Alright co-"  
"PIKAAA!"

Digu Held up a paw towards me, and stood up. He looked really  
determined. "Okay, fine, if you want to keep fighting I won't stop you...  
But just... gah... I can't keep up with Zel's silent commands, Digu, do what  
you need to!" Digu sprang into action on his own at that point, the moment  
that Darien began another attack, trying to slam the horn on his pointy face  
into Digu, Digu jumped out of the way and then ZAP! I recognized the attack.  
It was a thunder wave. Seems he wanted to paralyze Darien first. I was  
surprised that Digu was still able to fight. He then rushed in, and tackled  
Darien with a quick attack, but as he did so... one of the horns covering  
Darien's body scraped along Digu's side, leaving a sizeable gash. The wound  
only looked external... but Digu slowed down a bit after it happened.

"Hey! You seemed so determined! Don't give up now Digu!" I called out, to  
give him encouragement. Zel was calm, still giving Darien orders. Digu hit  
Darien with a decently powerful thundershock, and I thought it was about to  
be over. Well... it was... but not how I planned. Suddenly, even though  
Darien didn't even launch an attack, Digu collapsed. Seems he ran out of  
steam.

"That was careless Lina..." Zel called out. "You allowed your pokemon to be  
poisoned, and he fainted from exhaustion because you did nothing about it."  
Crap! I should have thought more about that scratch! I forgot that Zel had  
been using a poison type. Well, looks like the third fight was imminent. I  
reached for a third Pokeball, and hurled it towards the Arena after calling  
Digu Back. Zel had called back Darien at the same time. Zel and I spoke at  
the same time. "Xithan/Drew, I choose you!" From Zel's Pokeball, came a

Beedrill. Dexed it. I had sent out my Butterfree. Oh, this would be fun.

They were both bugs. "Alright, hit it with Confusion!" I called out to

Drew before Zel could begin. I couldn't

even hear him but I was sure he was speaking orders to the Beedrill. Xithan  
swerved out of the way of the psychic rays, and went into a flurry of  
attacks. My butterfree couldn't avoid several of them, but he held tight. He  
was pretty good at taking quite a bit of punishment. "Gah! Defend yourself!  
Harden!" I called out. Drew held his ground, and concentrated on forcing his  
exoskeleton to get harder, the exoskeleton covering his body shimmering with  
the effort.

In concerted effort to match him Xithan hardened as well.

"Confusion!" "Tackle!" "Harden!" "String shot!" The battle raged on for  
nearly an hour before I finally got the upper hand. Drew had pinned Xithan  
down, and I could finally guarantee a hit. "Alright! Confusion! Right into  
him!" Drew let loose, and Xithan couldn't take it. After all, a poison type  
is weak to Psychic.

"Alright Zel, I've finally won! I demand my prize!" Zel sighed a bit.

"You cheated... I don't care what the rules say, you know you did, in the  
first round."

"Oh come on, it was just a little bit of... moral support!"

"Well, if you want me to accept my defeat... You'll have to complete it..."

"What's that supposed to mean, Zel?" "It means you have to beat me too!  
Flare Arrow!" Zel sent some flare arrows shooting my way. I wasn't worried  
though.

"Freeze arrow." I replied in an almost bored tone, letting my freeze arrows  
counter the flare arrows on contact.  
Zel charged at me. He was fast mind you, the third of him that was demon,  
more than made up for the normal slowness that Golems might have. He drew  
his sword, and I drew mine, parrying a strike he made as he got in near.

"Whoa, Zel, aren't you taking this just a little bit too seriously?" I  
asked.

"Maybe." he replied. "But I haven't had any real challenges the entire time  
I'm here... Just indulge me for once, alright?"

"Indulge you?"

It was a miserable battle, but in the end, I beat Zel. True, I had to  
fireball him twice, but he can take it. A bit charred clothing wise, but  
otherwise fine, Zel finally conceded to give me the boulderbadge.

"Here Lina... you've finally earned it... anyways, now that you're here and  
our battle is over, we can finally get going."

"You didn't seem in any rush to leave, as I recall."

"I just don't give up easily, Lina. You know that."

"Right, you've got to show your incredible manliness. Eh, its okay Zel, you  
know I still love ya!" I gave him a pat on the back. I took it easy, knowing  
better than to smack him hard, last time I did that, I really hurt my hand!  
Zel blushed a bit. Oops.

"Hey! Not that way Zel, I'm just talking about as a friend and all!"

"I know that Lina, but you're making a scene!"

"Who's watching?" Zel pointed over to an open door. There were a bunch of  
kids. "Cara's family." He said in an annoyed tone.

"Ah... Oops... oh well. Come on Zel, let's get on with our journey! We've  
still got to find Gourry!"

"And Bill." he reminded me.

"Yeah yeah... let's go!"


End file.
